Wednesday, January 27, 2010

i love a good critique, makes me miss design school

Last night, I saw a tweet from Tara at Scoutie Girl that she was offering free blog advice on her personal blog. I immediately volunteered my blog to be critiqued. I needed a second opinion and I'm thankful for the suggestions and praise!

So, Tara, you'll be happy to know I already added an about me section. Why didn't I think of that?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

top ten tuesday: top ten daydreams...

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Amanda over at ohamanda.com does a fun little feature on Tuesdays called "top ten tuesday". It can be list of any ten things. I love this for two reasons. One, I love lists. And two, Tuesdays will be a no-brainer when it comes to writing a new post.

So, here goes. Top Ten Things I've been daydreaming about...

1. First and foremost, our trip to Walt Disney World next month. I can't wait for the warm weather and non-stop time with the fam...and of course all of this will be taking place at the happiest place on earth.

2. New projects! I've got some new products in the works for Lucky Star Press that I am SO excited about!

3. Spring. Nuf said.

4. Decorating my basement. I've been researching and watching design shows to get ideas for a fab new basement to be used as office, entertainment and play area.

5. New clothes!

6. Wishing someone would give my dogs a bath. I dread it and they really stink.

7. A design retreat. It would be so nice to get away for a few days and just spend time with my sketchbook.

8. Date night with my husband. We're trying to go on a date at least once a month.

9. A slimmer waist line. I'm attempting the Couch to 5K although I hate to run. But, I love having a goal and think it would be a great accomplishment for me.

10. Time to paint the bathroom. We've had hectic schedules the past few weekends, but I can't wait to see how my new bathroom looks in a lovely shade of gray.

Monday, January 25, 2010

priorities

At the end of last week I think I started to lose it. The to-do list seemed never-ending, kids seemed never- satisfied and, well, my babysitter was out of town. It was the perfect storm. I took Friday morning off to regroup and remember what my priorities are. My daughter was in preschool and I spent 3 straight hours playing with my 9 month, almost 10 month old little boy. It was the best morning I've had in a while. I was reminded that although I have lofty goals as a mother, wife and designer, I can't achieve them all at once. So, for today's post, here's a photo of my two cutest priorities.

Friday, January 22, 2010

put your money to good use

There are a ton of ways to support Haiti right now and it's amazing to see how much money has been given already. If you're still looking for a way to do your part there are a bunch of sellers over at Etsy that are donating part of their profits to Haiti relief. Here are just a few....

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1. Help Haiti screen-printed onesie, 100% go to American Red Cross or Save the Children
2. Knit Flower Headband, 100% to Haiti relief
3. Hand-Knit Cup Cozy, 10% to Doctors Without Borders
4. Set of 3 Leaf Magnets, proceeds benefit Doctors Without Borders
5. 2010 Desktop Calendar, 100% donated to Yele Haiti
6. Fancy-shmancy earrings, 30% of proceeds donated to UNICEF

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

some days, cupcakes are just required

I'm not a huge sweets person. But when I get a craving for chocolate, well, I have to find chocolate. I was running errands (buying paint for the new bathroom!), I passed a new cupcake shop called Gigi's Cupcakes. So, of course we have to support local businesses...right?! They are actually a franchise, so you can check out their site to see if there is one near you.

So, back to the chocolate craving...I decided on a White Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip and my husband loves red velvet, so I of course had to get Scarlett's Velvet as well.

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and yes, it was just as good as it sounds...now, to look up that Couch to 5K info.

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Monday, January 18, 2010

worst case scenerio

As a mom and as a person that likes to plan for everything, I'm often thinking of things that could go wrong and how I would react. I figure thinking about how I would react just in case would keep me from panicking. I don't really worry about things happening, I just realize that they might. Today was one of the first times I was glad I was mentally prepared to react.

Thinking back on it, it's not that big of a deal, but in the moment, I freaked out! My son is 9 months and he started eating table food in the past couple weeks. He started to choke at lunch today and immediately I remembered to hook my finger in his throat and pull it out. For all those times I told myself I was crazy for thinking of how I would react in bad situations...well, I'm glad I did.

Friday, January 15, 2010

and the winner is...

I've chosen the gray/green combo for the bathroom! I went to Target yesterday and liked it even more in person. I'm hoping to get the paint this weekend, so hopefully my first 2010 Project will be complete next week! I've been more motivated this week to get it done quickly, my daughter thought it would be fun to put wet hand prints all over the wall. Now the search is one for some accessories!

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

just me and my press

I was lucky enough to spend the day in the press room printing Mother's Day cards. Often the thought of all the printing I have to do is overwhelming. I devoted most of my day to it today and it was a nice change of pace.

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Monday, January 11, 2010

show your space

As a lover of stationery, I also love the places that people use stationery...their desks! Do you have an interesting studio, office or workspace? I'd love to see it. Post a comment below if you're interested in sharing your space!

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1. view from above, 2. work in progress, 3. white studio, 4. old school, 5. clean and green 6.
cute yet functional

Sunday, January 10, 2010

not so sure

I thought I had a fairly decent idea of what I wanted in my head for the kid's bathroom. All that went out the window when I didn't find exactly what I was imagining. So now I'm stuck on a few options. None of them really scream "kids bathroom", but it does double as our main guest bathroom. I found all of the shower curtains at Target. My goal for all of these improvement projects is to spend little while still keeping it unique.

Yellow was originally in my head. I love yellow and gray. But, I'm really loving the second option with the large blue and yellow print. The third is my least favorite, but I'm a sucker for green. I'm not sure the gray would be bright enough for the small room. What do you think?

kids, bathroom, design, paint, shower curtain

Friday, January 8, 2010

kid's bathroom makeover

I mentioned earlier in the week that I was working on some plans to make my life more like I think of it in my head. One of those places is my home. I work from home and spend so much time here, one of my goals for the new year is to get my house more organized and pleasant to look at. We've lived in our house for almost four years and there are probably only two rooms in the house that I can say are complete. Both of my kids rooms were planned, painted, decorated and finished.


So, for my first project...the kid's bathroom. Yes, I'm very aware that all of the kid's spaces are the first to receive my attention, but they're so fun to do! Nothing has been done with the bathroom, it looks almost exactly as it did four years ago when we moved in. There is a tanish-chocolate-milkshake-like color on the walls. The bathroom functions as a bathroom for both kids (boy and girl) as well as a guest bathroom. My goal is for it to be kid-friendly, but also nice for guests. Check back Monday to see my plan for the room.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Cool Cookbooks


Have you heard of TasteBook? They are cookbooks you can create with your recipes, personal photos or recipes that you can search for on their site. It's also expandable so you can add to it. They have some great covers to choose from and the books are designed quite well. This would make such a great gift for kids and grandparent's alike. Passing down recipes is like passing down a piece of family history. I better start now to get one done for next Christmas!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

disney dreaming

With the snow and the twelve degree temperatures, I've found myself daydreaming about our trip to Disney World in February (only 53 days left, but who's counting?) I've been in love with Walt Disney World since I was a little girl. My first trip was in the womb and I've gone at least once every year since. It's a magical world where work and chores disappear and you get to see life through the eyes of your kids. I'm uber excited to be staying at a new resort, Disney's Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary.


Speaking of Disney, I think they have done something brilliant. Well, they do a lot of brilliant things, but this one is at the top of the list. Give A Day Get a Disney Day started at the beginning of the new year. Basically, you volunteer for a day and you receive a free park ticket. Just in my area alone there are opportunities to make blankets for kids, build houses, create digital books for libraries or clean up a park. I think this will be a great activity for our family to do and teach the kids about giving back. Making blankets for kids sounds like a good one, don't you think?

new cards

When I was in college I used to spend weeks and weeks designing a project. We had critiques to go over every detail. I miss those days of sketching for hours. Luckily, over the holidays I found a lot of time to work on new card designs. There are lot of aspects of running a business. From accounting, marketing, shipping and packaging, designing becomes just a piece of the big stationery business pie. But, it's the best part and really reminds you why you're doing it in the first place.

My friend, Lori of Marzipan, Inc. writes a great blog, paisley wallpaper, and she often shares her new designs fresh from the sketchbook. I LOVE when designers share what they're working on and you get to see the process before they ever hit the shelves. So, I thought I'd share a couple new designs that will be printed here in the studio over the next couple weeks.

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all photos property of Lucky Star Press, please do not use without permission, thank you

Monday, January 4, 2010

Wish List: Sublime Stitching

While shopping at a bookstore in Cincinnati this past weekend, I came across Sublime Stitching, a company that sells do-it-yourself embroidery products. They are adorable! I love the stitchable stationery and baby bib embroidery kit. They have some wonderful books as well. I flipped through Embroidered Effects and the cover was beautifully textured with stitching. It has a ton of great patterns and project ideas.



all photos property of Sublime Stitching

Sunday, January 3, 2010

home sweet home

After what feels like weeks of traveling, we are finally home. For good. Well, at least until February I am determined not to travel. Packing the entire family is exhausting. Besides, I don't know if it's the new year or the lack of appointments on my usually cluttered calendar, but I'm motivated. The list in my head of things I want to do around the house, with the kids, with my business...it's growing by the second! More on that later this week.

First a little Christmas recap. We traveled to Iowa for Christmas to visit family. We enjoyed decorating cookies, sledding in all their wonderful snow and of course Andrew's favorite part...the wrapping paper.

We had planned to watch old family movies from when my dad was a kid. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the projector to work. We settled for old photo albums instead.


The weather on the way home was horrible, adding three hours to our trip. We're so glad to be home after another trip to Ohio this past weekend for a New Year's Eve wedding and more Christmas gatherings. Now, I must get that long list in my head down on paper!